Added responsibilities from Common Core make principals' work loads heavier

Sunday

Oct 20, 2013 at 2:00 PMOct 20, 2013 at 2:00 PM

By Melody Burrimelody@messengerpostmedia.comTypically by the time autumn leaves fly and school buses hit the roads, Marcus Whitman Senior High School Principal Jennifer Taft already has her calendar jammed with activities like senior parent night, freshmen orientation, open house, extra-curricular events, the school’s fall play, and finalizing student schedules. This year she’ll have an extra layer of responsibilities to add to her “to do” list, as will principals in schools across the state.New statewide initiatives to retool the education system will add hours to Taft’s and others’ weekly workloads and will require them to cultivate a whole new set of skills.At Victor Senior High, Principal Yvonne O’Shea spends September establishing routines — particularly for the 336 freshman and 50 new students to the high school. With an open house for parents in September and homecoming week the focus of October, she said this is “generally the ‘honeymoon’ period where faculty and students are energized, focused, positive, and happy to be among friends.”But she’ll need to hustle extra hard as the weeks pass in order to shepherd her 1,300 students and 90 teachers through the uncharted territory of professional performance reviews and common core teaching strategies.Bloomfield Secondary School Principal Nancy Gerstner describes the beginning of her school year as “quite hectic and exciting” with open house, homecoming week, dress up days, banner and float construction, and class king and queen selection.“Bloomfield Middle/High School includes students in grades 6 to 12,” she said, “and it’s neat to see how quickly the 6th graders get acclimated to our school. And it’s a challenge for me to learn their names.”And although students and staff have enjoyed a strong sense of school spirit, camaraderie and community, Gerstner will need to fan those flames to keep 55 staff members and 551 students energized as they weather the storms of statewide change in education.Unfortunately for school principals, it will all come at a price. In schools across the state they’ll be picking up additional responsibilities such as compiling and delivering 2012-13 “HEDI” scores calculated for their teachers under the new Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) system. “HEDI” refers to four rating levels assigned to teachers and principals: Highly Effective, Effective, Developing and Ineffective.Principals will then need to work on a tight deadline with struggling teachers to craft Teacher Improvement Plans (TIPS). At the same time, they may also find themselves consulting with their superintendents on Principal Improvement Plans (PIPS) to improve their own performance. They’ll assist teachers in creating Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), or targets for which material students will master during the year. And they’ll guide teachers as they adapt lesson plans and instructional practices for New York’s transition to Common Core State Standards (CCSS).It’s all in a day’s work — a very long day.“The implementation of the Common Core modules and the associated professional development are two areas which will consume a great deal of teacher and administrator time,” said Gerstner, who admitted her current work day is typically 10 to 14 hours long. The additional responsibilities this year will probably add a few more hours per week, she said.“There is also a new component of the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) which requires administrators to address cyber bullying when it has an impact in school,” she said. “This, of course, is in addition to addressing any bullying or harassment that occurs in school.”Taft reaffirmed that “the Regents reform agenda has added considerable amount of mandates, each of which have significant amounts of professional development and roll out time to make them successful.”Making work ‘work’Extra responsibilities demand a strategic plan if they’re to be implemented, so what are principals doing to balance their workloads?This fall, O’Shea will spend less time dealing with disciplinary matters and more time supporting her teachers with resources, professional development, and providing feedback as they implement new instructional practices. The new performance review system requires much more preparation before, during, and after the observations, she said.“With the new responsibilities, I am less involved with day-to-day discipline issues,” said O’Shea. “My assistant principals handle all the minor infractions.”With a building the size of Canandaigua Academy, Principal Vernon Tenney said he also relies heavily on his assistant principals Maaike Burr and Eric Jordan.“Learning how to delegate various jobs and duties is critical,” said Tenney, adding that much of the time he works on the run and uses his iPad to stay productive while mobile.At Marcus Whitman, which has 396 students, Taft said a new administrative position was added to help with observation requirements for the school’s 43 teachers. That same staff member also serves as the school’s new athletic director.But in the end, Taft said, her best strategy is “having patience, a sense of humor and trusting my teachers and staff to be great leaders for our students.”In Bloomfield, Gerstner said she continually pushes herself to set priorities, making every attempt to focus first on instruction.“It’s essential for me to spend the majority of my time in classrooms, staying in tune with teaching and learning,” Gerstner said. “There are only two administrators at the Middle/High School, due to previous budget cuts, so I don’t have the option to hand off responsibilities to anyone else.”Gerstner added that cuts to support staff in recent years have had an impact on supervisory assignments, and has put extra stress on the system.At Marcus Whitman, budget cuts have affected everyone in every building for the past few years, Taft said. “We work with what we have and make the best of the situation,” she said.Evaluation complicationAlthough the process for calculating teacher evaluation scores for the annual performance review system may appear to be mind-numbing, area principals say they take it all in stride.“There are three subcomponents to the annual professional performance review system, which lead to the teachers’ performance rating,” explained Taft. “Calculating the score is not time consuming, but the time that goes into each subcomponent is. The subcomponent score that comes from the state is calculated through an equation that includes several steps and sub-groups.”Going into more detail, Gerstner described the process:“There are several components of each teacher’s score — student growth, locally selected measures of achievement and other measures of performance,” Gerstner said.Teacher observations and assessments of performance were completed, she said, then the administration calculated students’ growth scores based on Student Learning Objectives and/or New York State assessment results. At the local level there were 3-8 assessments were also conducted, and those scores were combined with Regents results. All three components were then factored in to calculate teacher’s final score.And after all that, it’s still quite possible some very capable, talented teachers did not receive the scores they were hoping for. So how are principals helping their teachers keep emotions and blood pressures down?“It can be quite discouraging for any teacher (or principal) to receive an evaluation, in which the bottom line is a number,” said Gerstner. “I have continually stressed to the teaching staff that we will weather these storms together, and that we need to focus on ‘why we do what we do’ — that is, our impact on students’ lives.”Last year, she invited students to share the positive impact teachers had on them, and that is how she began each faculty meeting. It was a practice, she said, that helped them maintain their focus.To help ease anxiety among Victor teachers about testing and the new curriculum, O’Shea said, she’s giving them time to meet with colleagues.“Our major initiative this year is to establish Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) which allows teachers to collaborate and share best practices,” said O’Shea.Taft continues to remind teachers and students that it’s all a work in progress, that “this is a process that is ever changing... and we recognize that this is a beginning and modification will be necessary.”Adding more pressure to both teachers and principals, the State Education Department has announced plans to create a resource on its website so people can view how their school district stacks up against others in terms of teacher scores, and what percentage of local teachers scored high (or low). That resource is set to go live before the end of 2013. According to SED spokesperson Jonathan Buran, no individual ratings will be released for teachers or principals.Setting the toneAfter all that, principals will also have to devote a chunk of time to calming anxiety among teachers, students and parents over predictably lower state test scores.Taft said during this first year for the whole annual professional performance review process to be implemented, she’s being “up front and supportive, trying to communicate as much information as possible and take it one initiative at a time.”At Victor High School, O’Shea said, test scores have not changed dramatically yet, although she does “anticipate a difference with the Algebra exam in June, but we’re not panicking about it.”O’Shea plans to support Victor students who may not score in the proficient levels, with the goal of maintaining high graduation levels.“We will do whatever it takes for our students to get there,” said O’Shea. “In spite of all of these changes, I do feel that higher standards are ultimately in the best interest of our students.”Gerstner said the lower test scores were not a surprise to her, given that the curriculum assessed had not been provided to the teachers.“That being said, overall our students performed well on the 3-8 assessments, comparatively speaking,” she said. “This year’s assessments should be a slightly better indicator of student performance.”The Bloomfield School District is providing coaching for teachers on the Common Core Learning Standards, Gerstner said.“BOCES offered this professional development to regional districts, and Bloomfield took advantage of this, so our teachers will benefit with 40 days of training,” she said.The big messageAmid significant change, area principals are, in fact, beating the same drum and sending the same message to teachers, students and parents.“Life is about change and so are the requirements handed down by our legislative bodies,” said Tenney. “But our mission remains the same – we are here to provide each student with a world-class education. We have to understand education is a process, not an event.”Gerstner said she is proud of the opportunities students are afforded at Bloomfield.“We are a community who support and look out for each other,” she said.Encouraging the encouragersThe challenges are many. The workload is heavier than ever. But Taft said she is particularly energized by the sense of community with students, faculty and staff at Marcus Whitman.“Like anyone, the added stress needs to be managed,” said Taft. “So we work together, have open dialogue and figure out what is the best approach so our students can be successful.”Gerstner tries to stay focused on the most important aspect of her job, which is the education of her students.“Being in classrooms and interacting with the students always centers me,” she said. “The enthusiasm of the staff and students at the onset of the school year is quite infectious. As I greet the students each day, I am energized and inspired by them.”And for Tenney, when the buses unload every weekday morning, all is right with the world.“This is the life I have chosen," said Tenney. "I believe in my staff and our students. We will continue to educate, students will continue to learn.”

About the principals

Yvonne O’SheaVictor Senior High School1,300 — Number of students90 —Number of teachers

Jennifer TaftMarcus Whitman Senior High School396 — Number of students43 — Number of teachers

Nancy GerstnerBloomfield Secondary School551 — Number of students (grades 6-12)55 — Number of teachers

Vernon TenneyCanandaigua Senior Academy1,215 — Number of students100 — Number of teachers